Letters to the Editor.

Kudos for Sen and Galeano

In the August issue, I especially liked the interview of Amartya Sen and the article by Eduardo Galeano. Just reading Sen's words was mind-expanding, as he forced me to rethink my views on important matters. And Galeano incisively shows why our rulers hate democracy. Our current brand of capitalism steals from the poor to line the pockets of the rich. The poor don't particularly care for this, so the rich are understandably horrified by any system that might give the poor a wee bit of power. (Thieves never like getting caught.)

By "the poor," I mean the poorer 99 percent of the population--almost all of us, in other words.

Stu White Hoquiam, Washington Sen is Anti-socialist

Reading David Barsamian's interview with Amartya Sen caused me to reread this passage from Sen's Development as Freedom (Knopf, 1999): "It is hard to think that any process of development can do without very extensive use of markets...." Did his anti-socialist ideology contribute to his receiving the Nobel Prize in Economics?

Richard E. Edgar Athens, Ohio Some Hope for Colombia

"Quagmire in Colombia" (Comment, July issue) justifiably calls for a more sane approach to the drug "problem" than current U.S. military deployments to Colombia. However, it leaves us clueless as to how to achieve this goal through public policy. The article would have felt more complete (and hopeful) had it mentioned the Andean Region Contractor Accountability Act (H.R. 1591), a bill proposed by Representative Jan Schakowsky, Democrat of Illinois, which would prohibit the U.S. government from funding private armies to the Andean region. The bill is still pending.

In another related piece of legislation, the House approved on July 24 an amendment to the Foreign Operations Appropriations bill that eliminated a provision that would have given the President the authority to unilaterally increase the number of U.S.-funded private soldiers (currently limited to 300) in Colombia without informing Congress.

Kathy Szybist Chicago, Illinois Conniff and the Tax Rebate

I wanted to thank Ruth Conniff for her piece "Keep the Change" (August issue). I am a college student, and I received a notification from the IRS at my mother's home. She handed it to me in a fury, going on about how it cost money to even send the notification and speculating where the money was coming from. She told me to look at a line that said I would get $300 back. The line did not exist.

My mother owns her own...